25,550 Days

Changes. For a lot of people, change is one of the things that either they’re trying to resist or find themselves being swept by them. But do we really understand what that means? What is a change?

RESIST

SWEPT BY

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN???????

WHAT IS A CHANGE?

Change

Verb

1. To make or become different; alter

2. (tr) to replace with or exchange for another to change one’s name

3. (sometimes followed by to or into) to transform or convert or be transformed or converted

4. To give and receive (something) in return; interchange to change places with someone

5. [etc.]

Because as we exist, as we live, in every breath that we take, we are in that swing of a change!

BREATHING - YES - NO

If that breath comes, good; we’re alive. If it goes, we’re getting very, very close to something that we don’t know what it is. And if it comes again, there we just had another opportunity to be, to exist. And if it goes and doesn’t come back, you’ll be in the middle of a very big change.

MOTHER OF ALL CHANGES

That’s the mother of all changes. But it happens all the time—all the time, day, night—but we don’t perceive it as that. We perceive our life in terms of statistics: sixty years, sixty-five years, seventy years, average...

Individual 1: [male, Spanish, subtitled]

How many days on average do you get in a life?

I don’t know...

Millions of days?

Individual 2: [female]

I’ve never thought of that.

Individual 3: [female]

No, I haven’t either!

Individual 4: [male, Spanish, subtitled]

That’s very hard to figure out...

Individual 5: [female, Spanish, subtitled]

365 x 80...

I don’t know how to calculate it...

I don’t know.....

Many, many!

Individual 6: [female]

Two hundred and fifty million? But my maths are bad.

Individual 3: [female]

Trying to do the math.....

Individual 8: [female]

Two hundred and fifty thousand days.

Individual 2: [female]

Twenty thousand? I don’t know...

Individual 3: [female]

Yeah, um...

Individual 2: [female]Ma, go for eighty thousand.

Individual 3: [female]

No—eighty thousand! Eighty thousand.

Individual 2: [female]

I want to live a long life.

Individual 9: [male]

Hundreds of thousands...

Individual 10: [female]

Yeah, quite a few.

Individual 9: [male, simultaneously]

Round about that, yeah—it would be quite a lot, yeah.

Individual 7: [female]

We’re not studying mathematics.

Individual 11: [female]

A lot of days—and we hope so, a lot of days, yeah.

Individual 7: [female]

Yeah.

ECONOMICS LESSON:

$25,550

Let me give you a bit of an economics lesson here. If I was to say, “You’re going to receive twenty-five thousand, five hundred and fifty dollars,” is that a lot of money? Well, for some people it’s a lot of money. Some people, it’s not a whole lot of money. Twenty-five thousand five hundred and fifty dollars isn’t going to quite buy you a house and a car, a refrigerator, and a washing machine and pay for your food for too long.

I mean, in this day and age, 25,550 dollars is just not that much. And if this is all you had—this is it, you get no more of it—I think you’d be fairly depressed. Because it’s not going to last that long. I mean, forget about any trips—you may have to walk to the grocery store. Forget about any luxury items.

25,550

NOT QUITE DOLLARS. ON AVERAGE 70 YEARS

DAYS YOU GET 25,550 DAYS

So why am I telling you about 25,500 dollars!? What has that got to do with you? It does. Not quite dollars. On average, if a human being lives for seventy years, then that’s how many days you get. Twenty-five thousand five hundred and fifty days—that’s it!

Individual 1: [male, Spanish, subtitles]

25,550 days!

My goodness!

Individual 8: [female]

Really! That’s not much.

Individual 11: [male, subtitled]

That’s all?

Individual 2: [female]

Wow! Life’s short.

Individual 3: [female]

When you break it down like that, yeah. Yeah.

Individual 9: [male]

Aww, a lot less than what I originally thought.

Individual 10: [female, simultaneously]

Oh, wow! Yeah, it’s not that long, when you think about it.

Individual 8: [female]

Yeah, it can be a little bit sad, to be quite honest.

Individual 6: [female, subtitles]

Well, not as many as I thought!

Individual 12: [female]

Oooh, it sounds really little.

Individual 13: [female, Spanish, subtitles]

Very few days indeed!

Individual 14: [female]

It doesn’t sound as many as I thought it would be.

Individual 15: [male, Spanish, subtitles]

Well, it seems very few, really.

Individual 16: [female, Spanish, subtitles]

You realize that it’s very short—

that if you count the days, it’s nothing!

YOU ARE ALIVE

“You are alive.” And for a lot of people, well, you know, that’s not an earth-shattering message.

ehh...

But think about it. If somebody says to you, you’re going to die, that is earth-shattering. So why is it in reverse? If a doctor tells you, “You’ve got two months to live,” people go, “Oh my God.”

OMG

Do we acknowledge what it means to be alive when we are alive? Or does it only enter our minds when that possibility is no more?

Individual 13: [female, Spanish, subtitles]

Knowing that I have 25,000 days, I would like to take advantage of the rest of the days doing what I really like to do, and not just be a spectator in life.

I suppose what I want is to live.

Individual 17: [female, Spanish, subtitles]

Giving it a number makes you more conscious of the days that you have.

Individual 3: [female]

It needs to be lived to the fullest.

Individual 2: [female]

Live one day at a time, and...

Individual 3: [female]

Yeah. Yeah.

Individual 2: [female, cont.]

...don’t waste it.

Individual 3: [female, simultaneously]

Don’t take anything for granted...

Individual 2: [female, simultaneously]

That’s for sure.

Individual 3: [female]

Yeah, and no regrets.

Individual 18: [male]

A lot of days are like, lost because you’re just, you’re not living.

Individual 19: [female, subtitled]

I want to live every day to the fullest.

Individual 9: [male]

Be happier about what you do every single day. Why waste time trying to be sad, and that type of stuff?

Individual 10: [female]

Mmm, yeah.

Individual 20: [female, Spanish, subtitled]

We have to enjoy every day. Right?

Individual 6: [female, subtitled]

As I said, that is very few days.

I would have thought there were more.

That’s why we have to get the most out of them.

We have only one life.

My friends, what do you want to buy with the dollar that you get every day for 25,550 days? Me? I want to buy the truest joy. I want for me to be fulfilled.

WHAT DO YOU

WANT TO BUY

WITH THE DOLLAR

THAT YOU GET?

EVERY DAY x 25,550

TRUEST JOY

TO: ME FULFILLMENT

What will tomorrow be like? In one sense, no different than today and no different than yesterday. And if you are fulfilled, it’ll be unique. It’ll be different than today, and it’ll be different than yesterday, and the day before.

TOMORROW TODAY YESTERDAY

FULFILLED

And then, you don’t count the 25,550, because it doesn’t matter. This is the gift. Big gift—not huge—big. Twenty-five thousand five hundred and fifty.